The top four wealthiest counties, as measured by median family income, are located in the Washington, D.C. area, according to The Weekly Standard's analysis of Census Bureau data.

A key political question now is "whether all people have an unalienable right to keep the fruits of their own labor . . . or whether the government should funnel vast sums of money to the nation’s capital and then magnanimously redistribute it back to the tributaries," writes Weekly Standard blogger Jeffrey Anderson.

"Well, the stats are in, and it seems that neither of these two notions is really being fulfilled. To be sure, Americans’ money is flowing to the nation’s capital. But it’s not flowing back."

The wealthiest county in the country is Arlington County, Va., with a 2012 median family income of $137,216. Arlington lies just across the Potomac River from Washington.

Loudon County, Virginia, another county in the Washington metropolitan area, stands second at $127,192. Howard County, Maryland, which is situated between Washington and Baltimore, places third with $125,162.

And Fairfax County, Va., located in the Washington metro area, takes fourth with $124,831.

Census Bureau data released last week also showed that overall household income in the country was essentially unchanged in 2012 despite the addition of almost 2.2 million jobs.

“We have an economy that continues to grow, with most of the gains going to the economic elite. I don’t see any bright prospects for the median worker, much less the poor,” Sheldon Danziger, president of the Russell Sage Foundation, told 24/7 Wall Street.

Who says government isn't a profit-making enterprise? The top four wealthiest counties, as measured by median family income, are located in the Washington, D.C. area, according to The Weekly Standard's analysis of Census Bureau data.